Saints To Stay In New Orleans Through 2025

Posted by Mike Florio on April 30, 2009, 10:35 AM EDT

Attention, Ed Roski. You can now scratch the Saints from the list of potential targets to lure to Los Angeles.
The Saints have announced that they will remain in New Orleans through 2025.
The new deal will dramtically reduce the state’s subsidy payments to the Saints; Governor Bobby Jindal claimed that, in comparison to the current arrangement, the new deal will save taxpayers more than $280 million over the next 17 years, with (read my lips) no new taxes to fund the deal.
Saints owner Tom Benson will make up some of the difference between past payments and future payments by buying dormant properties in the vicinity of the Superdome and leasing space back to the state.
“It’s a bold project in an area in need of investment and renewal, and this partnership will take a part of our city that has not bounced back and make it a place the residents of New Orleans and all of Louisiana can be proud of again,” Benson said in a release. “The Superdome is a world-class facility, and it’s going to be enhanced. We are very happy with everything planned, and we want the buildings that surround the stadium to be on the same level.”
Governor Jindal also gushed about the deal. “This is a great day for Saints fans and the whole state of Louisiana,” Jindal said. “Throughout this process, I said we would make sure that this deal makes sense for Louisiana taxpayers — and by executing this agreement we will save the state hundreds of millions of dollars, while making what will be an incredibly successful investment for our state.

“This new partnership results in a long-term lease agreement with the Saints — plus an innovative investment that will dramatically revitalize the Superdome area. By modernizing the Superdome, we will enable the site to be more competitive with venues around the country. At the same time, we have the opportunity to revitalize an area of downtown New Orleans that has remained dormant for four years — and generate further economic development in the region.”

Technically, the agreement is subject to approval by the Louisiana Legislature. But it’s unlikely that the lawmakers will balk, since a new deal is needed to solidify New Orleans’ bid for the 2013 Super Bowl.

As long as they keep having to tarp over the upper deck sections in Waffle Houseville, L.A. has no worries if the NFL is so hell bent on putting a team there. The only question is, what’s it going to take for the league to finally admit what a mistake it was to put a team in Jacksonville instead of Baltimore, which, of course lead to the Browns leaving Cleveland. Jacksonville has been a colossal failure for the NFL when you consider the disaster of the Browns moving and thriving successfully in Baltimore. The team Cleveland is stuck with now has been horribly mismanaged while, even when successful, the Jaguars can’t sell out their stadium.

Im happy the deal in done and the Saints will be staying but im tired of hearing about a team moving to LA. LA has failed twice with a NFL team and im sure if someone moves there it will be 3 times…………..

great job by Benson and Jindal.
The Republicans should be shouting this from the rooftops.
oh and as far as Mr Biden goes . . .
oh crap I’ve gotta get out of my office here, confined space. Let’s all go out in the fields so we’re safe.
JACKASS.

“The new deal will dramtically reduce the state’s subsidy payments to the Saints…”
Dramtically???????
Type these in word and use the spell checker.
But good news for saints fans (A lot of people in Mobile,AL are saints fans)

GeauxSaints12
Im happy the deal in done and the Saints will be staying but im tired of hearing about a team moving to LA. LA has failed twice with a NFL team and im sure if someone moves there it will be 3 times…………..
It is three times already: Chargers, Raiders and Rams

The new deal will dramtically reduce the state’s subsidy payments to the Saints; Governor Bobby Jindal claimed that, in comparison to the current arrangement, the new deal will save taxpayers more than $280 million over the next 17 years, with (read my lips) no new taxes to fund the deal.
————————-
Key phrase there? “IN COMPARISON TO THE CURRENT ARRANGEMENT”. They aren’t SAVING a damn thing. They’re still SPENDING money. That’s the problem with the damn politicians. It’s like if you have a box of cookies, and someone (i.e. the government) comes up and DEMANDS that you give them, say, 40% of your cookies. You do it, not wanting to make waves….they then take 40% of your cookies, break a piece off of one cookie, hand it back to you, and expect a damn thank you.

eagles2009SBchamps says:
“The Republicans should be shouting this from the rooftops.”
Make sure they’re shouting how they cut 900 million from public health agencies. It’s not like we’ll ever be facing a possible pandemic and have a need to stockpile and ship drugs. But, hey, they only spent 800 BILLION on a war in Iraq that had nothing to do with 9/11 while ignoring Afghanistan where Al Qaeda lived and trained and are now all but running Pakistan because they ignored the real threat. Please, do all of us a favor, and sit very, very close to anyone coughing and sneezing. Give them a kiss and make them feel better. Rush said so, so it must be right. Douche.

Nice to see this work out. I don’t know that New Orleans has a “Saint-ly” image, but the possibilities could have been bad – kinda like Utah has nothing to do with Jazz. Would have loved the irony of another team going to LA first, and maybe ending up with the Las Vegas Saints.

GeauxSaints12 says: “Im happy the deal in done and the Saints will be staying but im tired of hearing about a team moving to LA. LA has failed twice with a NFL team and im sure if someone moves there it will be 3 times………….”
Fighting ignorance one post at a time . . .Im [sic] you’re in for a disappointment, then Geaux; you’re going to keep hearing about Los Angeles until a) Every owner who wants a new stadium gets one, or b) A team relocates here. Congratulations that it won’t be yours.
Now, about L.A. “failing twice” with the NFL. Los Angeles didn’t fail the NFL — the NFL failed Los Angeles. We had two teams here that provided a substandard product for an extended period of time, made no appreciable efforts to improve, and then asked for public subsidies.
The fact that we, as fans, didn’t reward this bad behavior with blind support should not be construed as failure on our part. We had ownership that couldn’t — or wouldn’t — meet their desired profit-margins in the second-largest market in the country. The departure of the Rams and the Raiders must be laid at the feet of the teams themselves, and on the NFL as an entity.
If Tom Benson had packed up and moved the team to San Antonio — as he was clearly looking at doing before the hurricane — would New Orleans have then “failed” in your eyes?
I suspect not.